Urbanization and the Politics of Identity in Buea A Sociological Perspective

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 4 Issue 5, July-August 2020 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD33078 | Volume – 4 | Issue – 5 | July-August 2020 Page 772
Urbanization and the Politics of Identity
in Buea: A Sociological Perspective
Fanny Jose Mbua
B.Sc. MSc, PhD (In view)
University of Buea, South West Region, Cameroon, Central Africa
ABSTRACT
Urbanization plays a distinct and important role in producing political
relationships. Identity politics which is strongly linkedtosenseofbelongingis
an important dimension of political relationships in urban areas. This study
examines the relationship between urbanization and the politicsofidentityin
Buea. The research is a descriptive documentary research with data collected
from secondary sources (former studies and reports, newspapers, archival
records and internet publications) with few interviews. Data collection
procedures included reading and note-taking. Data was analyzed using
thematic content analysis whereby conceptsandideasweregroupedtogether
under umbrella key words to appreciate the trends in them. The
Instrumentalist Theory of Ethnicity was the framework that guidedthestudy.
The themes were geared towards outlining how ethnicity has been a tool of
political control. Data was gathered from the different epochs that have
marked urbanization in Buea, from the Native Authority to the present Buea
Rural Council, demonstrating how this has influenced relationships between
natives and non-natives. Results show that, starting as a colonial town, and
most especially with her changing status as the capitalsuccessivelyofGerman
Cameroon, BritishSouthern Cameroons,and WestCameroon,coupledwiththe
fact that she has had to harbour several institutions, Buea has experienced
rapid urbanization. It also reveals that, just as colonialism is responsible for
rapid urbanization in Buea, it has constructed differences between “us” and
the “other” aimed at protecting indigenous minorities. In essence, the thesis
demonstrates how the transition of Buea from a rural to an urban settlement
has led to several types of relations across identity division, especially
between insiders and outsiders as well as among native segments as each
strives to dominate the political milieu. Although the non-natives are in a
demographic majority, they occupy a minority position within the Council.
Most especially, the recruitment policy of the Councilfavours natives, to the
detriment of non-natives. Land restitution and re-alienation has ushered in a
paradigm shift from tensions between natives and non-natives to an era of
peaceful co-existence.
KEYWORDS: Urbanization, Politics, Identity, Buea, Sociology
How to cite this paper: Fanny Jose Mbua
"Urbanization and the Politics of Identity
in Buea: A Sociological Perspective"
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INTRODUCTION
Urbanization refers to the process by which rural areas
become urbanized as a result of economic development and
industrialization.Demographically,urbanizationdenotesthe
redistribution of populations from rural to urban
settlements over time. However, it is important to
acknowledge that the criteria for definingwhatisurban may
vary from country to country, which cautions us against a
strict comparison of urbanization cross-nationally.
Over the past 20years, many urban areas have experienced
dramatic growth as a result of rapid population growth and
as the world economy has been transformed by a
combination of rapid technological and political changes
(Cohan, 2006). At the beginning of the 20th century, they
were just 16 cities in the world. Today there are almost 400
cities, with 70 of them found in Africa. For the first time in
history, by 2017, more people will be living in cities and
towns than in rural areas, and developing countries will
become more urban than rural (ibid). Our concern as
sociologists is not to focus on urban growth, but to analyze
some of the social and political intricacies that arise as a
result of urban growth or urbanization.
As cities grow, managing them becomes increasingly
complex. This is because rapid urbanization throughout
Africa has seriously outstripped thecapacityof mostcitiesto
cope with challenges, especiallypoliticalchallenges.Yeteach
year cities or towns attract new migrants who together with
the increasing native population exacerbate problems such
as the problem of coexistence, the ‘who’ dichotomy, the
stranger/native conflict, all of which can be subsumed in
what has become known as the politics of identity.
Historically, the second half of the twentiethcenturysaw the
emergence of large-scale political movements: ethnic
movements, second wave feminism, Black Civil Rights in the
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U.S., gay and lesbian liberation, and the American Indian
movements, for example, based in claims about the
marginalization done to particular social groups. These
social movements were undergirded by and fostered a
philosophical body of literature that takes up questions
about the nature, origin and futures of the identities being
defended. Identity politics as a mode of organizing is
intimately connected to the idea that some social groups are
oppressed; that is, that one's identity as a woman or as a
native, for example, makes one peculiarly vulnerable to
cultural imperialism (including stereotyping, erasure, or
appropriation of one'sgroup identity),violence, exploitation,
marginalization, or powerlessness (Young, 1990). Identity
politics starts fromanalyses ofoppressiontorecommending,
variously, the reclaiming, re-description, or transformation
of previously stigmatized accounts of groupindividualswith
a common identity. Rather than accepting the negative
scripts offered by a dominant culture about one's own
inferiority, one transforms one's own sense of self and
community, often through consciousness-raising.
Identity politics or what might be called the demand for
recognition is thus, at its core, essentially the politicsofequal
dignity and the politics of difference (or authenticity). It has
emerged both in the developing and developed world, and
has roots in gender politics, sexual politics, ethnic politics,
and religious dimension of politics, or some combination
thereof. This work will be focused on ethnic politics.
Urbanization and the politics of identity, as far as Africa is
concerned, are linked to colonialism. Analyzing the three
different trends (pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial)
will expose just how far urbanization has affected the
political pattern in Africa. Macionis (2009) argues that
urbanization is not only an evolutionary process of
redistributing human population within a given society, but
also a way of transformingmanypatternsofsocial,economic
and most especially political life toward satisfying the
development of the needs of man.
In Africa as a whole and Cameroon inparticular,sociologists,
anthropologists and even political scientists have tried to
assess the way in which urban revolutions and forces have
impacted upon the political development of Africa,
Cameroon and Buea to be specific. The three trendsare:pre-
colonial, that is, prior to colonialism,thecolonial erawith the
development of industrial cities, and the explosivegrowthof
cities in the post-colonial period or the era of globalization.
Unlike the popular misconceptionthaturbanizationinAfrica
is the result of European civilization, urbanization was
widespread in Africa for centuries before the arrival of
Europeans. According to Chandler (1994), urbanization is
not a new development or phenomenon in Africabutexisted
in Northern African as early as 3200 B.C, and later extended
to the rest of the continent. These urban centuries were
located along the trade routes used by Arab traders. Someof
these urban centers include Cairo and Alexandra in Egypt,
Tripoli in Libya, Fez in Morocco, TimbuktuinMali,Kumasiin
Ghana and Kano in Nigeria. Hence in pre-colonial Africa,
trade, economic activities was the stimulating variable that
stirred urban growth.
However, in the fifteen and sixteen centuries, the pattern of
urbanization of African wasbalkanizedandweakened bythe
expansion of mercantilism which stagnated political and
economic development in the existing urban centers. The
flourishing African trade system was balkanized and
replaced with the slave trade which had devastating
consequences on the political developmentofurbancenters.
In order to prevent the emergenceofpowerfulurbancenters
and to destroy existing ones, the Europeans played one
kingdom off against another; hence the Asante kingdom
asserted control over the West African coastal states to gain
monopoly over the regional slave trade. This divide and rule
policy continued in the colonial era and was inherited by
leaders of the post-colonial era.
The second half of the nineteenth centurysawthe expansion
of European mercantilism to colonialism. This process was
inspired by the development of Capitalism in Europe which
gave rise to the quest and search for cheap raw materials,
agricultural produce, as well as markets. To acquire cheap
labour for purposes of agriculture and manufacturing, lands
were expropriated, tax imposed. The Europeans therefore
restructured the politicalsystem.ThisrestructuringofAfrica
and its pattern of urbanization was triggered more
extensively by political competition brought about by the
Belgian and German annexation of territories in Africa. This
upset the balance of power and reinforced the quest and
scramble for the partition and control of Africa. As a result,
the policies of Assimilation and Indirect Ruled were
introduced in the urban centers of Africa. These methods of
political control used by the Europeansintheadministration
of Africa’s urban territories brought a new wave of political
development of urbanization in Africa.
Contextually, one cannot talk about urbanization in
Cameroon in the colonial area without mentioning Buea.
This is because Buea did not only serveastheadministrative
head quarter of colonial rule, but plantation agriculture in
the area also served as a pull factor for migrants, making it
one of the first urbanized townsinCameroon.Thesechanges
were accompanied by political changes that will continue to
affect the current political trends in Buea.
The era of globalization is marked by extraordinary growth
in Africa (Macionis, op.cit). This is also referred to as the
post-colonial period when most countries in Africa gained
independence from European colonization. During this era,
the rate of urban growth increasedbecauseinadditionto the
natural increase, millions of people left the countrysideeach
year in search of jobs, health care and education. Education
most especially played a vital role as far as the political
transition from colonial rule to independence was
concerned. This educated class became known as the elite.
They championedthecourseofindependence,independence
that was characterized by ethnicity implanted by the
colonialist. It is rather unfortunate thatinpresent-dayAfrica
and in Cameroon especially, the ruling elite continue to
manipulate ethnicity as an approach to politicking.
As the wave of urbanization kept spreading, new programs
were invented to suit the growing world population, such as
globalization. However, since the 1980s, the globalization
phenomenon of political liberation seems to have led to an
increased obsession with ethnicity, autochthony and the
politics of belonging in Africa and elsewhere. The wave of
liberal democracy was introduced in Cameroon in the early
1990s; meanwhiletheurbanizedtownsbecamemulti-ethnic,

multi-religious and multi-linguistic. The questionthatarises
here is, since democracy stressed the fact that the people
should rule, who are the people? It is against this backdrop
that the concept of natives and non-natives started
occupying a dominant role in the political arena.
Buea has been described as the third fastestgrowingtownin
Cameroon; however, it is made up of migrants, many of
whom are migrants not only from throughoutCameroon but
also from other parts of the world, especially Nigeria. The
questions here is: how do these migrants survive in the
urban area politically? As Buea is growing rapidly, she is
filling up old boundaries, and with increased infrastructural
development, the central city is absorbing villages on the
peripheries into the urban mass; example: Muea, Mile 16
Bolifamba, WonyaMavio, Bokwaoungo. In this work, we will
analyze the problem of co-existence in Buea, the dichotomy
between “native” and ‘‘non-natives”, the metaphor of the
homeland, the role of the elite, and land re-alienation.
BACKGROUND
Urbanization is the process by which a number of people
become permanently concentrated in relatively small areas,
forming cities. Long (1998) contended that rural to urban
migration means that people movefromruralareastourban
areas; in this process the number of people living in cities
increases, compared to the number of people living in the
rural areas.
Urbanization is a population shift from rural to urban areas,
"the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in
urban areas", and the ways in which each society adapts to
the change. It is predominantly the process by which towns
and cities are formed and become larger as more people
begin living and working in central areas.Reisse(1964)held
that urbanization is a process of populationconcentrationin
which the ratio of urban people to the total population
increases.
Urbanization in its demographic sense can be defined as the
movement of people fromsmallsettlementsscattered across
the countryside into areas of concentration. It is
predominantly the process by which towns and cities are
formed and become larger as more people begin living and
working in central areas (Cohen, 1969). The most plausible
history of urbanization can be traced as far back in the 19th
and early 20th century, with the industrial revolution that
took place in Britain. Davis (1969) argued that urbanization
is undoubtedly the most striking specific aspect of modern
civilization. Modern growth started in the 18th century
following the industrial revolution whenonly3%ofthetotal
population lived in towns of more than 5000 inhabitants.
The United Nations projected that half of the world's
population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008. It is
predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world
and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized. That is
equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050,
much of which will occur in Africa and Asia. Notably, the
United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all
global population growth from 2016 to 2030 will be
absorbed by cities, about 1.1 billion new urbanites over the
next 14 years (Reba et al., 2016).
One of the most lasting features of the industrial revolution
was the rise of cities spurred by industrialization. Breeze
(1966) defined urbanization asaprocessofbecomingurban,
moving to cities, changing from agriculture to otherpursuits
that are common to cities and corresponding changes of
behaviour patterns. This definition explains the African
urban population which has been rapid due to the rural-
urban migration process which continuously adds to the
number of inhabitants in the urban centers. Therefore, the
word ‘urban’ is often used for such terms as town, city,
suburbs and metropolitan area. It is a general term
associated with population size, population densities,
economic functions or the life in a city including the context
of political behavior and socialization.
From Great Britain, industrialization accompanied by
urbanization spread to Europe, America and other parts of
the world at different times and speed during the 19th
century. Unlike popular opinion,urbanizationinAfricais not
as a result of European influence. AccordingtoTolba(1981),
the history of urbanization indicates that the first cities in
the surface of the earth occurred in the region of
Mesopotamia and the Nile valley in Egypt ground 3500BC
and later extended to the rest of the continent.
However, one cannot refuse the fact that urbanization also
created an impact as far as Africa is concerned. According to
Kunda (1999), the process of urbanization and the creation
of cities in colonial countries can be described as a breaking
of the continuum. This discontinuity happened in two
significant ways, one being the growth of cities determined
by exogenous factors like the setting up of a giant trading
centre or a massive public sector project or a multi-national
company.
According to Sumuyeh (1993), urbanization has been the
greatest in developing countries especially those within the
inter-tropical areas. Now more than ever, developing
countries are experiencing more rapid growth and are thus
sufferingfromurbanproblem.Amongthecommonproblems
of urbanization in African countries like Cameroon is
indigenous identity eradication. Africa remains the world’s
poorest continent and such a massive population shift will
confront the continent’s 56 governments with gargantuan
problems: how to feed such an enormous number of people;
how to provide safe drinking, healthcare, jobs and shelter
and most especially the problem of co-existence. This is
because the rate of urban growth is by far higher than the
rural capacity to plan and cope with the outcomes of
urbanization.
In 1950 less than 15% of Africans lived in cities. By 2030,for
the first time in history, more of the continent’s people will
be living in urban areas than in rural regionsand by 2050 an
estimated 1.23 billion people, or 60% of all Africans will by
city dwellers (UN Report, 2008).There was relatively little
growth of tropical Africa until the Second World War. Since
then, an increasing expansion of towns and cities has
occurred in western, southern, and eastern African
countries. Most of these towns originated from colonization
and have developed and expanded as they were necessary
centers of control and administration. Suchtownswerethus
situated at the coast (Sumuyeh,1993).Tosupportthis,Mofor
(2009) argued that most of the towns createdbythecolonial
administration weredesignedforthecolonialadministration
and trading centers rather than for commercial centers
equipped to support large populations.

In Cameroon, in spite of the pre-colonial towns that have
existed such as Foumban, Ngoundere, Mora,Kousseri,urban
growth started during the colonial period (1884-1960),
mainly along the coast, that formtheimmediatelink with the
metropolitan power. Most of these towns were created to
serve as a source of raw materials for the metropolitan
powers as plantations were located along the coast. Among
such towns were Douala, Victoria, Kribi. After independence
the growth of these towns accelerated ad later developed
into urban centers (Sumuyeh and Mbunwe, 1993).
According to Neba (1987), before independence most
Cameroonian towns grew rapidly due to an adequate
infrastructure. This situation changed drastically with the
dissolution of the federal system of government and the
creation of a unitary state in 1972. After this period, most
Cameroonian towns expanded rapidly.
There are different criteria used to determine a town or an
urban area. In Cameroon both the numerical and
administrative criteria are used in defining an urban area.
Hence an urban area inCameroon referstoanagglomeration
of 5000 people engaged mainly in non- rural activities, or an
area which is built up with buildings, roads and other urban
land use (Neba, 1987; Sumuyeh and Mbunwe ,1993) In
Cameroon all administrative areas are considered urban.
Looking at the above criteria, Buea is an urban area.
The history of urbanization in Buea started as early as 1901
when the Germans selected it as the capital of the German
colony of Kamerun (Ngwa,1986).Bueahassincethenserved
successfully as the seat of the British protectorate of the
Southern Cameroons and of West Cameroon within the
Federal Republic of Cameroon. Buea is presently the
Regional Headquarter of the Southwest Region. Buea as a
very fast growing town is not exempted from some of the
headaches of urbanization, given that it was once under
colonial administration and since then is more of an
administrative and commercial town. Apart from its
administrative functions, Buea equally serves as a touristic
site and an international sporting town. Most especially,
Buea is now the seat of education as far as higher education
in Cameroon is concerned.
Mofor (op.cit), writing to the Recorder Newline, arguedthat,
with the advent of the University of Buea in 1993, the town
has witnessed a tremendous influx of people. Apart from
students who come every year in their thousands, job
seekers, businesses and other commercial activities have
flooded the municipality. Today, with the rapid increase in
population, the social amenities in the municipality are
unable to keep up with the explosive growth of squatter
communities and shanty towns. Presently, thetownisfacing
housing problems; water is rationed, voltage is low, and
sanitation is poor, and the Bakweri traditional system and
identity are being undermined.
Colonialism and the Politics of Identity
That colonization left a legacy of instability in Africa is an
established thought among many African writers. For them,
the contemporary crisis in post-colonial Africa is primarily
one of identity carved out by the colonialists. Commenting
on this, Kortright (2003) argued that the present
stratification and make-up in Africa has been dictated in
totality by the colonization and conquest of European
nations. Although direct colonization has largely ended, we
can see that the ideology of colonization has lingered in the
identity of people within the general cultural sphere and in
economic, social and most especially political practices.
Marger (2000) added that colonization beganwitha forceful
involuntary entry; thecolonizingpoweralteredordestroyed
the indigenous political culture. To support this fact,
Frederick Barth (1969) argued that the identity of a group
emerges when a social group interacts with other social
groups and this culturaldifferenceresultsintheformationof
boundaries, distinguishing “us” from “them”. A group
maintains its identity when members interact with others.
For Barth, one’s perception of “us” and “them” isasubjective
reality based on subjective ethnic boundaries.
Politically, the policy of IndirectRuleinstituted bytheBritish
required among other things the designation of chiefs
through whom it could controlmembersoftheircommunity.
The first step of the British administration was to secure the
confidence, loyalty and support from the most influential
chiefs and construct the system of indirect rule accorded
them (Yenshu, 2006). Hence, such a policy wastohavegrave
effects as communities, especially those in Cameroon, were
diverse in the form of their socio-political organization,
ranging from an acephalous group in the forest region to
semi state-like structures in some partsofthegrassland.The
sociological analysis of this policy is that domination
between prominent and less prominent chiefs becomes
imminent as prominent groups were elevated to the level of
paramount chiefs over less prominent ones (Eyoh, 1998).
Marger (op.cit), in this direction, arguedthatmembersofthe
colonized group tend to be governed by representatives of
the dominant group. This system of dominant/subordinate
relationship is buttressed by a racist ideology.
This process has created the identity of the colonizedpeople
with pathological effects that has influenced the present
dichotomy we face. In contemporary African society, the
issue of paramountcy has become problematic. In this light,
Yenshu and Ngwa (2001) argued that the issue of less
prominent and prominent chiefs has influenced the
relationship between traditional rulers in Northern Mezam.
The Fon of Bafut was attempting to play a leadership role
through the North West FonsUnion (NOWEFU) which has
tried to federate some of the most prominent traditional
rulers in the Region. They further argue that politics of
identity which often fluctuates between ethnicity and
tribalism, even resulting in armed conflict and genocide in
some cases, can be traced to colonial attempts to reorganize
peoples who accommodated themselves in the pre-colonial
past. Their study shows how relations based on
accommodation in pre-colonial times have been modifiedto
competing relations in colonial times and how this has
affected postcolonial politics in the Northern Mezam area of
Cameroon. They however conclude that colonial regimes
sowed the seeds of discord, division and tension that have
given birth to divisive politics that does not serve the
interest of national integration even at local level.
According to Fanon (1963), colonialism also separated the
community in native and settler villages. During the era of
colonialism in Africa, the natives were considered as
indigenes, while the settlers were the white people or
foreigners. This knowledge offers us a way out of the

stratification that we face today. According to Mamdani
(2005), even though the colonial powers are gone, we keep
defining every citizen as either native or settler. In this light,
conservative African regimes have succeeded in dividing
yesterday’s natives into post-colonial settlers and post-
colonial indigenes. This concept of settler, presumed by the
colonialist to refer to foreigners or white people, has been
translated in contemporary African society to mean non-
native; hence citizens are now “settlers” in their own
countries.
To further illustrate this fact, Peter Ekeh (1975), using
Nigeria as an example, argued that the Nigerian constitution
is ethnic in character; that is, the key Federal Institution
must reflect a “Federal Character” in which entrance into
state universities, the civil service and the army is quota
driven. Only indigenes of a state are qualified for a quota.
This means that all Nigerians outside their ancestral home
are considered as non-indigenes or settlers in the state in
which they reside. It is in this light that Mamdani (op.cit)
concluded that once the law makesculturalidentitythebasis
of political identity, it inevitably turns ethnicity into a
political identity. Relating to this research topic, we realize
that Buea has been politically transformedinsuchawaythat
the concepts “settlers” and “strangers” have been
institutionalized to mean non-indigenes who, ironically,
constitute the bulk of the population in Buea.
Colonization, according to Peter Ekeh (op.cit), created two
publics that he called primordial and civic publics, whose
dialectical relationships accountedforthepolitical problems
in post-colonial Africa.Thefirstisassociatedwithprimordial
groupings, sentiments and activities; the second is
associated with colonial administration lacking the moral
imperatives operative in the private sphere and the
primordial public. The two publics emerged because of
colonial ideologies legitimating and denigrating African
society and cultures, and glorifying European colonial rule.
Mamdani (op.cit), throwing more light, added that the
colonial civil society was characterized by bifurcation of the
public realm, which accounts for the centralityofethnicityin
African politics and the disjunction between the state and
the civil society that has bedeviled post-colonial Africa
To justify the colonization of people, Kortright (2003)
argued that myths and images need to be created so that the
subjugation makessense. These images and myths become
the identity of the colonized. One universal image is that the
native people are lazy. This image is a useful myth becauseit
subjugates and humbles the colonized while justifying the
colonizer’s privileged position. This is very vital to this
research work because duringcolonizationinCameroon,the
colonial masters using the policy of divide and rule branded
the coastal people (Douala and Bakweri) as lazy and those
from the hinterland (Grass field) as hard working. The
sociological impact is that this has not only created a
psychological impact amongst the coastal people that keeps
affecting their lives till date, but has continued to strain
relationships between the two opposing sides, be it
economically, socially or most especially politically.
Post-1945 saw the rise of nationalism spearheaded by
African elite who have legitimately accepted colonial ideas
and principles to justify the leadership of the elites in the
fight against colonialism (Ekeh, op.cit). At the down of
independence, colonialism had already instituted strong
regionalism and tribalism. Parties were created based on
regional lines. In Nigeria, it was between the North, Eastand
South; in the Southern Cameroons it was between
J.NguFoncha the “Bamenda man” and E.M.L.Endeley the
“Buea man” (Ngoh,1999). In Kenya it was between the
dominant Kikuyu ethnic group and the Luo ethnic group.
This has currently led to ethno-regional conflict, each
fighting to protect its own ethnic identity.
Adding to this, Claude Ake (1997) argued that the process of
decolonization has contributed to political ethnicity. To
begin with, the nationalist movements had mobilized ethnic
groups into politics. Politicization changed to identity
politics when the nationalist movements which were united
by common grievances started to disintegrate on the verge
of independence as their leaders maneuvered power. Those
leaders who came from large ethnic groups could not resist
the temptation of using an ethnic identity to consolidate a
substantial political base. Just like Nigeria, this is evident in
Cameroon when at the dawn of independence French
Cameroon had two dominant ethnic groups, the Betis and
the Northerners, while in the British SouthernCameroons,it
was between J.N Foncha from the North West and Endeley
from the South West. At the end of the day, because of the
demographic majority of the North West,Foncha wasableto
beat Endeley in the 1959 elections.Thisdefeathascontinued
to hamper relations between the two Anglophone regions as
far as politics of identity is concerned.
At independence, majorchallengesofAfricanleaderswereto
foster national integration disintegrated by colonialism, but
it became problematic because many of the leaders saw
national integration as a threat to their political aspiration
and resorted to nationaldisintegrationjustliketheircolonial
counterparts. Going by the multi-ethnic component of most
African states, many leaders saw ethnicity as the most
reliable method of maintaining their stay in power by
creating division, separation, suspicion,tension,antagonism
between ethnic groups. It was against this backdrop that
most, if not all, African leaders began instrumenting or
instituting ethnicity in the political domain (Ake,op.cit.)
French Cameroon secured independence from France long
ago but prevailing socio-political turmoil is attributed to
colonialism and the forced amalgamation of diverse ethnic
units constituting Cameroon. According to Eteng (2004),
Lugard’s forced amalgamation of 1914 and subsequent
British colonial policy of divide and rule instigated inter-
ethnic suspicion, residential segregation and antagonism
among communal groups. Cameroon is made up of
numerous ethnic groups and the politics of divide and rule
inherited from the colonialists is mainly responsible for the
propagation of ethnicity and ethnic rivalry in Cameroons
politics as ethnic groups play against each other over state
resources.
French CameroongainedindependencefromFrancein1960.
Monga (2000) argued that as a new head of state Ahidjo
faced the challenge of developing a new national
consciousness amongagroupofpeople withdifferentethnic,
colonial and political experiences. Confronted with the task
of promoting harmonious national consciousness, Ahidjo
adopted the policy of regional equilibrium whereby quotas
were allocated to different ethnic groups or regions so as to

achieve social justice. This emphasis on regional and ethnic
identities resulted in the creation of acute, sustained
awareness of ethnic belonging and regional affiliation.
Cameroon as a geographical entity began to be perceived
and represented in terms that conveyed ethnic messages;
“the country was nothing but an aggregation of resources, a
gigantic ‘pie’ to be fairly distributed among ethnic groups.
Kofele-Kale (1986) pointed out that this patronage system
for distributing political power in Cameroon according to
ethnic groups led to the establishment of “several tiers of
ethnic baron” down the political hierarchy. These rewards
both material and symbolic transcended established legal
and administrative procedures and, instead, ethnic or
regional channels were used.
Ahidjo resigned in 1982.His ethnic agenda was carried out
by his successor Paul Biya who perfected it using the slogan
of “national integration”. Fonchingong (2005) argued that
the logic of national integration is an alchemy that has
characterized socio-political life in Cameroon since Ahidjo’s
reign.
However the situation may be, this historical disjunction
which began with the repressive colonial regime in
Cameroon and continued with its successor’s post-colonial
government explains the inability of thecivilsocietytomake
an impact on the political scene. Because this was never
achieved in Cameroon’s immediate post-independence
political evolution, the civil society is now struggling to
emerge, this time not in a form offederatedinterestmeantto
defend certain social and political ideals, but as forces for
ethnic and communal rivalries and as objects of intra-state
mobilization (Mbuagbo and Akoko, 2002). It is in this light
that Nkrumah declared that, unless Africans work toward
some form of constitutional union of Africa, our continent
will remain what it is today, a balkanized mass of individual
units used as a political and economic pawn by those
external forces which seek to keep us dividedand backward.
The external forces are the colonial masters.
Scholarly interest in identity politicshasbeenwidespreadin
recent years, ranging over a wide variety of disciplines, and
analyzed in a number of ways including the meaning of,
types, as well as the concentration, practice and the
deployment of identity politics. Within the discipline of
Political Science and Sociology, analysis of identity politics
has been employed in studies of ethnic conflicts and
mobilization, democratic stability, votes turn out, symbolic
and descriptive representative social movements and
collective actions, political tolerance, nationalist movement
and nation building (Tilli, 2001).
Identity politics, also called politics of belonging, refers to
political positions based on the interests and perspectivesof
social groups with which people identify. In other words,
identity politics includes the ways in which people's politics
may be shaped by aspects of their identity through loosely
correlated social organizations. Examples include social
organizations based on race, class, gender, gender identity,
ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, culture,
language and dialect. Not all membersofanygiven group are
necessarily involved in identity politics.
Identity politics is a more recent concept. The Combahee
River Collective, a black feminist group that operated out of
Boston in the late 70s claimed to have coined the term
identity politics (Combahee River, 1977). Thisgroupaffirms
that the most general statement of our politicsatthepresent
time would be that we are actively committed to struggle
against racial, ethnic, sexual, and classes operation and see
as our particular task, the development of integrated
analysis and practice based upon the fact that the major
system of oppressions are interlocking. Combahee later
notes, “this focusing upon our own oppression is embodied
in the concept of identity politics”.
This is similar to Guttman’s (2003) viewed that the laden
phrase “identity politics” has come to signify a wide range of
political activity and theorizing founded in the shared
experiences of injustice of members of certain socialgroups.
Rather than organizing solely around belief systems,
programmatic manifestos, or party affiliation, identity
political formations typically aim to secure the political
freedom of a specific constituency marginalized within its
larger context. Members of that constituency assert or
reclaim ways of understanding their distinctiveness that
challenge dominant oppressive characterizations, with the
goal of greater self-determination.Theterm‘identity politics
came into being during the latter part of the 20th century,
during the Civil Rights Era.During this time period, identity
politics was used by a minority group to form a coalition
with members of the majority. Now the term is popularly
used when referring to nationalist movements.
For many proponents of identity politics this demand for
authenticity includes appeals to a time beforeoppression,or
a culture or way of life damaged by colonialism,imperialism,
or even genocide. Some proponents argue that:
Indigenous governance systems embody distinctivepolitical
values radically different from those of the mainstream.
Western notions of domination (human and natural) are
noticeably absent; in their place we find harmony,
autonomy, and respect. We have a responsibility to recover,
understand, and preservethesevalues, notonlybecausethey
represent a unique contribution to the history of ideas, but
because renewal of respect for traditional values is the only
lasting solution to the political, economic, and social
problems that beset our people Taiake (1999).
From this view of Taiake above, identity represents people
or persons with something in common. Identity or more
accurately identities are generated in response to the
specific political and social context in which groups or
individuals are located. These identities are usually easily
negotiated by their owners and are context specific. Still,
there is an aspect of identity that is permanent andenduring
regardless of the situation and which identity is most
prevalent at any particular time. These are typically the
embedded identities that often form the stuff of politics of
identity (Tilli, 2002).
In the end, these are the aspects of identity that form the
trump card around which everything else must be
negotiated. This understanding is reflected in Bhargava
(1995) who argues that the idea of negotiation is central to

the conception of politics of identity as a collective process.
That is, identity is not only or even mostly subjected to the
whims of the person who inhabit it; instead, identity is
determined by forces outside of the entity that embodies it,
namely society.
Like identity, the concept of politics of identity is left
undefined by many because of the sense that it is a fairly
explanatory term. According to Kaufman (1990), identity
politics is the belief that identity itself, its elaboration,
expression, and affirmationshouldbea fundamentalprocess
of its political work. It can also be seen as the coalescence of
a group of individuals whose focus and goal is the creation
and expansion of a formalized and cohesive identity and a
politics and political strategy based on that collective
identity (Guttman, 2003).
According to Harris et al. (2013), identities, whether
personal or collective, are inherently political.Thepoliticsof
identity involves the construction, reconstruction or
disruption of notions about what it means to claim a
particular identity, or the creation or re-creation ofmeaning
attached to them especially if these efforts are attempts to
shift power relation within or between groups.
In Africa, the concept politics of identity has been used
synonymously with politics of belonging (Antonsich, 2010).
Here he describes it as the political arenas related to
different notions of belonging, be it ethnic, national,cultural,
or religious. Davis (2011) organized the question of politics
of belonging around three main issues:thenationand nation
state, homeland and the constructionofnational boundaries,
and autochthonic politics.
Gellner (1983) described nationalism as a theory of political
legitimacy which requires that ethnic boundariesshouldnot
cut across political ones and in particular, that ethnic
boundaries within a given state, a contingency already
formally executed by the principle, its formulation, should
not separate the power holder from the rest. This
interpretation according to Davis (op.cit) linked social and
ethnic diversity under the banner of a nation and create a
new but even stronger political demarcation. The nation
state is a political project of nationalism and this is where
the allocation of citizenship and citizenship rights meet
imagination of national belonging and a feeling of loyalty
within national boundaries.
Homeland is described by Davis as an inscription of a
physical nature, as the special locations on which the
boundaries of a nation state are based. Within the political
project, different ethnic groupings are or can be involved,
through a rudimentary commitment of ethnic and/or
cultural diversity. However, conviviality of difference does
not apply for autochthonic politics described and analyzed
by Peter Geschiere in the African and European case.
According to Geschiere (2011), the notion of autochthony
plays a crucial role in the formation of belonging within a
globalizing structure as some sort of primordial claim. Inhis
view, the recent upsurge of autochthony and the related
notion of belonging is rooted in extended neoliberalreforms
worldwide. In this light, it is concluded that identity politics
has its own genealogy in liberal capitalism that relentlessly
reinforces “the wounded attachment” it claims to sense.
Statement of the Problem
In recent years, sub-Saharan Africa has experienced rapid
urbanization and this has made all African cities multi-
ethnic. Cameroon for example has more than 200 ethnic
groups. This multiplicity of ethnic groups in cities has been
an obstacle to national unity and integration that Africans
strove for during the independence struggle. Politics in the
urban space has been replacedby ethnicjingoismasregional
elites, traditional rulers, ethnic associations and individuals
are all struggling to dominate political space, hence leading
to the proliferation of ethnic regional cleavages. As Cohen
(1969) has maintained that, unlike in the rural areas,
ethnicity serves economic and most especially political
interests in an urban context.
This is similar to what is happening in Buea as identity
politics remains primarily internally crafted and driven.The
indigenes of Buea, predominantly the Bakweriansdesire to
maintain their political hegemony remains quite firmly
internally planted. Despite the enormous contributions of
non-indigenes, they still feel like outsiders even thoughthey
have lived in Buea for a long time. Whereas the constitution
of Cameroon says that everybody shall have the right to
settle in any place and to move about freely. Even article 13
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that
everyone has the right to freedom of movement and
residence within the borders of each state. But when it
comes to political control, ethnicidentitiesare nowpowerful
weapons to motivate behavior withinCameroonandBueain
particular. Since politics is all about competition, ethnicity
serves as a useful tool for mobilizing people, policing
boundaries and building coalitions that can be deployed in
the struggle for power. This becomes stronger during
elections as it has become a resource that the elite
manipulate for political gain.
In Buea for example prior to the 2002 twin elections, the
Divisional Officer blatantly told non-indigenes who
complained of lack of voters’ cards to go and registerintheir
province of origin. Likewise, the then Governor of the
Southwest Province, the late Oben Peter Ashu, did not only
instruct non-indigenes in Kumba to produce residence
permits before they could vote, but he also come up withthe
“Came-no-go’’(permanent residents in Buea who hails from
the Western grassfields of Cameroon) slogan against
strangers(Fonchingong, 2005). Such derogatory remarks
coming from government officials who were supposed to
promote peaceful co-existence, unity and national
integration is a call for concern.Thesestereotypeshave been
borrowed especially by political elites who continuously
used it against non-natives especially those from the grass
field regions. How then do migrant survive politically in a
city like Buea?
We are not limiting ourselves to Buea becauseitssituationis
similar to those in other parts of Cameroon. Ideas such as
rigor and moralization (Biya, 1987) and nationalintegration
have become mere slogans considering the heightened
atmosphere of ethnic consciousness in the country. This
bifurcation syndrome has marred relationsbetweenthetwo
English-speaking regions that are continuallyturnedagainst
each other by the divisive politics of the regimeinplace. This
scenario therefore makes this present study absolutely
necessary.

Objective
 To establish a relationship between urbanization and
the politics of identity in Buea
Research Question
 What is the relationship between urbanization and the
politics of identity in Buea?
METHODOLOGY
This study is focused in the Buea Municipality. Bueaisoneof
the sub-divisions of Fako Division and has acted as the
political capital of the South West Region since the Region
was created. Located at the foot of Mount Cameroon, the
highest mountain in Central Africa, the town covers
approximately 870 km2 and is made up of 85 villages
(Monono, 2001). Buea as a sub-division was created in1986
and is bordered to the east by Muyuka, to the north, by Mt
Fako, to the west by Idenau, to the south-east by Tiko, and to
the south-west by Limbe.
Politically, Buea has served as the CapitalofKamerunduring
the German colonial era from 1909-1919, the Capital of the
United Nations Trust Territory under British mandate from
919-1961, and Capital of the seat of government of West
Cameroon from 1961-1972 (Ngoh, 1996).
With respect to urbanization inBuea,in1976,thepopulation
of Buea stood at 24,000; in 1986 it was 62,000; in 1993 it
was 65,853; and in 2001 it stood at 80,000. Today the
population is estimated at over 200000 inhabitants
(Monono, op.cit). The position of the town as a university
town since 1993 and as regional capital has led to a
significant influx of people from other parts of Cameroon,
and even out of Cameroon. It has been rated as one of the
fastest growing towns in Cameroon.
The original indigenes of Buea are the Bakweri. Despite the
fact that the Bakweri constitute the largest group, Buea is
represented by a broad range of ethnic groups from
Cameroon and beyond.
As regional headquarter, the town is home to a vast array of
both governmental and non-governmental bodies. Many
private tertiary institutions also operate in the area, making
Buea “the place to be”. However, as the population keeps
changing, so too does the economic,social,cultural,andmost
especially political pattern.
The documentary research design was used for this study.
According to Nana (2008), a research design is a blue print
which gives a procedural outline on how data relating to a
particular investigation should be collected. The
documentary research methodology and few interviews
were used in keeping with the objectives that the study
seeks to achieve. The object of the study, urbanization and
the politics of identity in Buea, is a social reality that the
researcher seeks to describe, interpret and give meaning to
that will enhance understanding.The qualitative approach
was the most suitable for the study considering the fact that
the topic required the researcher to collect and express
results in words with the aim to understanding the meaning
people give to urbanization, identity politics and the
relationship between the two in Buea.
Qualitative method of research constitutes the research
approach of this study. Creswell (2003) explains qualitative
procedure to be centered on comprehending a particular
social situation, event, role, group, or interaction. This
method will help in providing a description of urbanization
and the politics of identity in Buea. Creswell further explains
it to be an investigative process whereby the researcher
steadily and gradually understands a social phenomenon.
The premise behind the qualitative approach is that it gives
the researcher the opportunitytoutilizemultiplemethodsof
data collection such as observation, interviews and
documents. In this study the researcher makes use of just a
few interviewsandpublishedandunpublisheddocumentsto
obtain relevant data for the study. The motive for the use of
interviews in data collection and documents was based on
the objective of the study which needed an in-depth content
and thematic analysis of the phenomenon of urbanization
and the politics of identity. Also, the researcher ensuredthat
the questions met the research objective. Data was drawn
from documents that had directly or indirectly addressed
work on the main variables of the problem under study;
documents such as government records, especially archival
records, newspapers and magazines, internet publications
and reports.
The bulk of this research work was focused on documentary
sources, supplemented by a few interviews. The researcher
targeted only Mayors, past and present, to get firsthand
information on how far urbanization in Buea is affecting
politics of identity. Four respondents were interviewed. All
had good educational backing, were 50years and above, and
above all, mastered the politics of Buea even though they
differed in political ideology. Thanks to these qualities,
respondents were able to analyze, interpret, criticize and
appreciate urbanization and political trends in Buea.
A sample is said to be a replica of the population under
investigation with respect to certain characteristics that fit
the investigation. It is often advisable to ensure that the
population sampled is usually an accurate representation of
the general population. Sampling is particularly to eliminate
bias, cost and to gain time within which the research is
carried out. This study made use of the purposive sampling
technique given that the researcher chose just those who
could give the necessary information. The criteria for
choosing respondents had to do with the fact that such
persons must have been a Mayor or must have had a long-
standing working experience in the Buea Council. This
ensured that the respondents had good appraisal of the
intrigues of urbanization and politics of identity in Buea.
The search for empirical data in the analysis of this research
was made based on the objectives of the study as well as the
arguments raised in the literaturereviewandthetheoretical
section. The search for data was characterized bylookingfor
documents that have addressed issues on urbanization and
identity politics. The researcher read through documents
while taking down notes. These notes were further grouped
under themes and sub-themes. Regarding the field
procedure, the researcher booked appointments with
respondents at their convenient time. Interviews were
conducted face to face in respondents’ offices, residences or
other places convenient to them.

The documents and interviews (qualitative data) were
analyzed using the process of thematic content analysis
whereby concept and ideas are grouped together under an
umbrella key word to appreciate the trend of ideas.
To research any phenomenon, one has to find empirical
indicators of it. Politics of identityisacomplexphenomenon.
The task of the researcher is to outline at least what can be
the essential dimension of this phenomenon, and to indicate
the direction of their possible variations. Politics of identity
often fluctuates between ethnicity and tribalism; hence the
theoretical framework was drawn from the concept of
ethnicity and the focus here is on the instrumentalist theory
of ethnicity.
The Instrumentalist Theory
Proponents of this theory view ethnicity as something that
can be changed, constructed or even manipulated to gain
specific political and economic ends. According to them,
ethnicity is an instrument or strategic tool for gaining
resources. This theoretical framework holds that people
become ethnic and remain ethnic whentheirethnicityyields
significant returns. In other words, ethnicity exists and
persists because it is useful. According to Brass (1991),
ethnicity is a “strategic instrument” of a particular
community for enforcing its interest. The functional
advantages of ethnicity range from “the moral and material
support provided by ethnic networks to politicalgainsmade
through ethnic bloc voting” (Portes and Bach, 1985). To
Glazer and Moyniham (1975)whoareamongthepioneersin
this school, ethnicity is not simply a mix of affective
sentiments but, like class and nationality, it is a means of
political mobilization for advancing group interests.
The most extreme version of instrumentalism attributesthe
acquisition and retention of ethnic membership or identity
solely to the motivation of wanting to obtain comparative
advantage. In this light, Peterson (1975) argued that the
strength, scope and viability of ethnic identity are
determined by, and are used to serve, the economic and
general interests of individuals. Hence interest is the sole
determinant of ethnic identity, and ethnic affiliationtends to
be transient and situational as the benefits of ethnicity shift.
A more variant form of instrumentalism combines
advantages of ethnicity with affective ties. Bell (1975)states
that ethnicity has become more salient because it can
combine an interest with an affective tie. Cohen (1969)
suggested that cultural homogeneity of people facilitates
their effective organization as an interest group and boosts
ethnic solidarity and identity.
Relating instrumentalism to the modern state, Eriksen
(1991) argued that leaders in a modern state (the elite) use
and manipulate perceptions of ethnic identity to further
their own ends and stay in power. In this same direction,
Cohen (op.cit) argued that ethnicity operates within the
contemporary political context and isnotanarchaicsurvival
arrangement carried over into the present by conservative
people. To him, people manipulate values, norms, beliefs,
symbols as weapons in the struggle for power with other
groups within the contemporary situation. Most especially,
he argues that ethnic elites mask divergent interests, erect
ideological screens of shared sentiment and are driven by
calculations of profit.
“Ethnicity is created in a dynamics of elite competition
within the boundaries determined by politicalandeconomic
realities, and ethnic groups are to be seen as a product of
political myths, created and manipulated by culture elites in
their pursuit of advantage and power” (ibid).
In Cameroon, access to resources within the state is
distributed according to ethnic lines. In other words, people
lay claim to the state through their ethnic groups
represented by elites such as asking for state protection
against ethnic minorities, asking for social facilities like
university, asking for ministerial positions, etc.
FINDINGS
Buea has experienced rapid urbanization over the years.
This has resulted in the change of life style associated to
values, attitude and behavior. However, thecomingtogether
of different ethnic groups in Buea per se did not usher in
ethnicity. Ethnicity occurs only when cultural differences
become the source of identification, resource allocation,
action and manipulation. This chapter traces the different
stages of urbanization in Buea and brings out the instances
where urbanization has promoted ethnicity in Buea. Two
themes are analyzed: major trends of urbanization in Buea
and the relationshipbetweenurbanizationandthepoliticsof
identity in Buea.
Major Trends of Urbanization in Buea
Oral tradition reports that the founder of Buea,
EyehNjieTamaLifanje, who came from the Bomboko area,
established his settlement at Buea because of the successes
that he usually made from hunting expeditions in the area.
Thus, he named the place “ligbea” (meaning place of work)
from which the name “Gbea” is derived (Njomo, 1985).
However, although hunting was the primary motive behind
the Bomboko migration to Buea, the fertility of the soil on
the slopes of the mountain was an inviting factor.
Subsequently, other migrants from Bomboko established
villages which were named by the names of their founders.
Migration into the area was encouraged by the potentials of
the area, mainly fertile soil and abundant game. These same
economic potentials which attracted the first migrants were
later to attract the Europeans.
The first migrants settled around the present Governor’s
Office, Synod Office, and Parliamentarian Flat. As the
population grew, the settlementmoveddownwardstowards
Soppo, Bonduma, Molyko. With the arrival of the Germans,
they discovered that the best place for them to live was
where the village was. Hence in 1894, Germans under Von
Puttkamer successfully occupied Buea after two severe
expeditions, forcing the nativestomoveoutoftheirprevious
site to present-day Buea town. It was on the ruins of the old
lovely place where the Buea town had been situated thatthe
Germans under Governor VonPuttkamer established a
German Station (Ardeneretal., 1968). Where the natives
previously settled became known as Buea station while the
new settlement of the native was known as Buea Town
because it became a settlement strictly for the natives
(interview with Becke Samuel, former Diplomat, Sept
7th2016). The 1894 Buea – German war in essence marked a
new chapter not only in the town’s settlement history but
most especially, the town’s urbanization. Modern Buea, just
like other towns in Africa, started as a colonial town

Buea has played a major role as far as the history of
Cameroon is concerned. It has occupied different political
positions in the different epochs in Cameroon’s history
leading to high immigration and subsequent urbanization.
Social scientists have argued that migration is the primary
component of demographic change that drives urbanization
(Geist and Lambin, 2001). Let us examine the different
epochs and see how they affected urbanization in Buea
Buea as the Capital of German Kamerun (1894- 1916)
Prior to German occupation, the Buea people lived in adis
organized environment of poorly constructed houses either
with wood (popularly called caraboard) or with leaves
(thatched house). Their choice of building was influencedby
the fact that Buea was situated in a tropical rain forest zone,
made up of thick forests. At that time, there were no specific
roads; only bush paths were available, with little or no
communication between the different villages.Everybody in
the village was engaged in the same task;thatis,farmingand
hunting. The main native settlements in Gbea were
Wonyalyonga, Mukunda, Wonyamongo, Wasingi and
Ewonda (Njomo, 1985).
Motivated by its fertile land and cool climate, the Germans
under von Puttkamer did not only transfer the capital from
Douala to Buea in 1986, but also had grand designs to
transform Buea from an ordinary mountain station to the
capital of German West Africa (Monono, 2015). Von
Puttkamer started by building a German house, a mission
school and a hospital. Modern Buea started around the
current Mountain Hotel road, uphill to the lodge, across the
Governor’s office and the Presbyterian mission, curving
behind the magistrates’ courts, through Federal Quarters,
down the catholic mission and back tomountainhotel(ibid).
The Germans started by naming the area Buea and called
where the villagers settled, native Buea while white
settlement was called “stations” (Becke, op.cit)
Considering themselves as superior, the Germans made a
distinction between the white settlement and native
settlements. That was why they began by forcefully moving
natives from their previous settlement. To restrict
interaction between the white settlement and native
settlement, native areas were fenced to prevent the natives
with their animals from going to the station. The Buea
people who previously lived in complete freedom on the
extensive pasture lands were contained in native reserves
(Ngoh, 1996). This racial division did not end with the
Germans as the natives, on their part, made further
distinction between native residential areas and “stranger
quarters”. Being a German station, Buea attracted migrants
from other areas. These migrants were termed native
strangers, also known in “mokpwe” as “wajeli” (i.e. those
who have come). These persons were perceived as being in
the group but not of the group; that is why they could not
live and farm in the village land but could only live on
reserve land, thus the origin of the name “stranger’s
quarters”. These strangers lived according to their tribes
along the market road going down towards the Catholic
Church. The Hausa were the first non-indigenous people to
arrive in the area and their settlement becamethe nucleusof
the first stranger settlement in Buea and their presence
attracted other immigrants notably the Islamized Bamum,
Babungo, and Bamileke who cameastradersand butchers.It
is against this backdrop that we still have “stranger’s
quarters” in all, if not most villages in Buea.
Being the administrative headquarter of German Kamerun,
Buea attracted development that fostered urbanization.
Between 1905 and 1910, the German administration
constructed a number of buildings in the Government
Station to serve as offices or social services, notably schools,
hospitals, postal services, police stations, most of them
centered around the Bismarck Fountain (Ardener, 1968).
To connect Buea to other villages, seasonal roads were
constructed linking the capital to other villagesaroundBuea
and other economic centers through roads suchastheBuea-
Soppo road, Buea-Bonjongo road, Buea-Tiko road, Buea-
Victoria road and the Buea -Mpundu road. This fostered the
mobility of persons from one place to the other (Monono,
op.cit).
A modern telecommunication system was introducedwhich
led to the construction of not only the Bonakunda and
Woteke communication centers but also the construction of
the post office which is presently opposite the Provincial
Archives office. This promoted interconnectedness within
Kamerun and out of Kamerun. Such development in the
capital of German Kamerun attracted a number of first
generation civil servants from all over the colony serving as
clerks, policemen, teachers, interpreters, cooks, and
messengers, as well as traders and businessmen. This
modified the nature of relation between the German and the
native and shifted the natives from agricultural production
to salaried jobs. As the area became populated, there was
need for housing facilities. This ledtothedevelopmentof the
German Residential Area in the Upper Farm area while
native/ nonnative workers resided at Lower Farms.
German land alienation was also initiated with the
introduction of plantation agriculture with plantations
created in Lysoka, Maumu, Sexenhof, Molyko, Tole, and
Ekona. The sociological impact of plantation agriculture is
that, not only did it increase the population as it acted as a
pull factor for migrants, it also influenced themodernization
of Buea with the construction of roads, railways, camps and
rest houses. A case in point is the Mekongi railway
constructed by the Germans that passed through Mekongi
(Sandpit) to Victoria. Camps were constructed to house
plantation workers, with demarcations and distinctions
between senior service camps (white workers),
intermediary camps (junior staff), and lastly what is
popularly called “costain” for labourers.
This urbanization was accompaniedbyracialdifferentiation.
The Germans tapped pipe-borne water from the waterfall at
Upper Farms as part of their development scheme, but this
development was limitedtotheGermanresidentialquarters,
while the natives used wells or streams (Becke, op.cit).
Whatever the case, the racial division duringtheGermanera
was bi-polar; that is, between the Germans and the natives,
what Frank Fanon emphasized as the differences between
the “Us” and the “Other”.

Fig. 1: Map showing urban Buea as Capital of German Kamerun
Buea as Headquarters of British Southern Cameroons (1916-1961)
The British took over Buea after the Germans were defeated during the First World War andadministeredtheterritoryaspart
of its colony of Nigeria. From the capital of the colony of German Kamerun, Buea became the capital of the much reduced
territory of Southern Cameroons. At that time, the name Buea ceased to be just a village, but a British administrative center.
According to Ngwa (1986), Buea began evolving from a “native urban center” to a politico-administrative one. As an
administrative headquarter, it meant that more jobs were created for people given that Buea harbored a number of services
such as the Prison, Police, Economic Affairs, Information and Culture, Agriculture and Forestry (Balgah,2007)
Such developments were to go a long way to attract people not only from other parts of Cameroon but also Nigerians, mostly
from the Eastern Region (Ibo, Ibibio, Calabar, Ijaw) who were brought to work both in the colonial services as clerks,teachers,
policemen, warders, cooks, and messengers as well as traders and farmers. The British Colonial era in Buea also marked the
influx of Bassa, Bakoko, and Bamelike people to Buea, who came either as traders or were escaping from political persecution
in the French Cameroons. These newcomers created new stranger quarters such as the Bonaberi and Mbo quarters in Buea
town. Others settled either in Muea, which became major Bamileke and Ibo centers, or along the Sasse-Wotutu road, where
large Bassa, Bokoko and Beti communities existed (Monono, 2015).Itisatthispointthatthetownmovedfroma nativetownto
a cosmopolitan town. The problem of coexistence between differentcommunitiesincreasinglybecamea realityfromthispoint
onward.
The British colonial administration used local chiefs who served as Native Authority (NA) with a court and a council. It was
within this scheme that Buea became the center of Bakweri Native Authority (NA) and hosted the NA Court of Appeal, NA
Council, the Central Treasury, Health and Educational facilities and other facilities. The main Native Authority in Buea in the
British colonial periods devolved on Mathias Endeley who was succeeded by his brother GervasiusMbellaEndeley.

As head of the Bakweri NA, Chief G. M. Endeley carried out a number of developmental projects that furthered urbanizationin
Buea. He constructed the Buea, Bojongo, Lysoka, Muea Court Halls, the former Buea Rural Council administrativebuilding,the
Buea Slaughter House, the Bojongo and Muea Health Centers. He embarked on road construction leading to the Buea Town-
Bokwaongo- Likombe- Sasse roads and the Buea-Soppo roads. He opened schools like the Buea, Muea and Bova NA Primary
schools and constructed the Buea town market in the Old Motor Park. Thanks to his land grants, the Catholic Mission wasable
to construct schools in Buea Town and Muea while the government also constructed schools in Buea town (Moudji, 1982).
One cannot talk about urbanization trends in Buea during the BritishColonialera withoutdemonstratingtheroleplayedbythe
Missionaries. Apart from its political functions, Buea served as a Mission Station and ecclesiastical capital for the Catholic,
Presbyterian and Baptist churches in Southern Cameroons. The activities of the missionaries also enhanced the urbanization
process in Buea ranging from the construction of beautiful structures hosting their churches and headquarters,to theopening
of schools, hospitals and seminaries. One cannot forget the part played by St Joseph’s College Sasse createdin1939 which,due
to its renowned academic output, attracted students from all over Cameroon. Thanks to this institution, Cameroonians were
able to acquire the necessary skills to take over from the Nigerians after Southern Cameroons gained independence.
The idea behind new layouts which is one of the variables of urbanization in Buea started with the British. As administrative
headquarter, coupled with the creation of the Cameroon Development Corporation in 1947, Buea wasattractingmanypeople.
However, the plantations created a limit to the town’s growth as it continued to be defined bythem.Tocompensate thenatives
for expropriated land, the British allocated new layouts. On the part of the British, these layouts were aimed at removing the
villagers from their unhealthy and unplanned environment to a clean and planned environment with well-defined structures.
Also, there was need to resettle retirees from government residential areas. The first layout allocated by the British was in
Great Soppo which is presently Campaign Street. It is against this backdrop that subsequently, especiallyfromthe 90s,layouts
would play a vital role in the continuous transformation in Buea.
Fig. 2: Map showing urbanBuea as Capitalof British Southern Cameroon
Buea during the Self-Governing Administration within the British Cameroons 1954-1961
With the coming of quasi rule of self-government under the British, E.M.L Endeley in 1954 carried out a number of social
infrastructural projects which were either constructed or programmed. As first Southern Cameroons HeadofGovernment,he
initiated the construction of the Government Residential Area (GRA), with six Senior Service Quarters and 10 Junior Service
Quarters (clerk quarters) in Buea between 1954 and 1959. He constructedthenewPoliceHeadquarters,BueaMountainHotel,

and Centenary Hall in 1959 to serve as a national hall for Southern Cameroons. He also constructed the Soppo-Buea road, a
three-storey Ministerial Block which currently harbors the Ministry of Secondary Education. He also brought in Shell and
Texaco petrol distribution points. These boosted the town’s urbanization trends (Monono, 2015).
Buea as Federated Capital of West Cameroon (1961- 1972)
After the plebiscite and subsequent reunification in 1961, Buea was maintained as capital of the Federated State of West
Cameroon. The town was essentially an administrative centre and the seat of the State institutions of the West Cameroon
Government which included The House of Assembly, House of Chiefs, and theSupremeCourtofWestCameroon.Thetownwas
also the regional headquarters for several Federated services such as Commerce and Industries, Labour, Post and
Telecommunications, Statistics, Culture, Information, Youth and Sport, Judiciary as well as Armed Forces. As West Cameroon
capital, Buea was also an international city as it hosted a number of consular postsandeconomicandforeignmissions.Hence a
number of territorial, local, administrative and military reforms were undertaken, so as to create an enablingenvironmentfor
social, economic, and infrastructural development of the town. Buea became not only an administrative town but also a
commercial town as it attracted civil servants, contract workers, skilled and unskilled workers, businessmen and farmers.
When most Nigerians went away after the plebiscite, causing a drop in the population, most especially in the civil service, the
Federal Government reacted by creating the 13th company of the Cameroon Armed Forces to accommodate some 132
Cameroonians from the Nigerian Army and established an Army Training School in Buea, and launched recruitment offers in
Buea to fill the vacuum created by the departure of Nigerians (Monono,2015).
As capital of the Federated State of West Cameroon, making Buea a befitting capital was paramount. Consequently, the
successive premiers, J.N.Foncha, A.N.Jua and S.T.Muna and their governments in West Cameroon providedthetowneachwith
urbanization plans between 1961 and 1972. BeingthefirstHeadofGovernmentafterindependence,Foncha providedthetown
with a number of social infrastructural facilities. He completed the Post Office, set up the Government Printing Press and
extended the Mount Cameroon Hotel in 1961. He opened the Buea District hospital, Texaco Petrol Station and the Buea
National Hall in 1962. He constructed the Cameroon Bank Building(nowSOWEDAoffice)andopenedtheGovernmentNursery
School. He also constructed the Reunification Hotel. He initiated the construction of a number of buildingprojectstohousethe
Federal services in Buea such as the Presidency, the Federal Residential Quarters in the GRA, and the residence of the Federal
Inspector of Administration. His government also saw the creation of ENAP in 1963 for the training of prison staff (Monono,
2015). Under him there was marked increase of primary and secondary schools, most significantly Bilingual Grammar School
(BGS) Molyko in 1963. As first bilingual school in West Cameroon, the Bilingual Grammar School did not only transform Buea
into a centre of education; it also projected Molyko as a seat of learning in Buea which in the later yearswillchangethestoryof
urbanization in Buea (see above, Sept 7th2016). All these innovations improved not only ontheinfrastructuraldevelopmentof
Buea but also increased the number of salaried workers and student population, and boosted the commercial life of the town.
The main innovation in urban development during the Federation was the introductionoftheplanningapproach.Accordingto
the 1964 decree, local authorities had the responsibilitytoprepareanurbandevelopmentplanshowingzonesreservedforany
of the following purposes: residential and trading areas, fuel and forest areas, agricultural holding, communal grazing areas,
reservoirs, catchments and other works, and areas for any future development. Between 1964 and 1975 there were 83
planning areas in West Cameroon, nine of which wereinBuea.UnderJua’sgovernment socialinfrastructuresuchastheCouncil
School Buea town, the Cooperative Training School, the Linguistic Centre were constructed. Most significantly,heconstructed
and opened Radio Buea Transmitting Centre (ibid).
Mr. S.T.Muna, the last Premier of West Cameroon, started his urbanization plan in Buea by summoning the senior architect of
West Cameroon, P.C. Inglis, in 1968 to be briefed on the town plan and re-development scheme for Buea. He created aninter-
departmental committee under the Secretary of Lands and Surveys, Hon S.N.Kindo, to implement the re-developmentofBuea.
As part of his urbanization plan, Muna’s government created 10 new layouts covering 703 plots for senior and junior service
staff. The Senior service layout included the GRA Layout, GRA Extension Layout, Federal Quarters Layout, Lower Farm House
Layout, Lower Farm Layout (Clerks Quarters), the Sick Bay Layout (P&T School) and Buea Town Layout. The Junior service
Layout comprised the Great Soppo Layout, the Great Soppo Extension Layout, Mokonjo Layout, Likoko Layout, and the Muea
mile 18 Camp Layout (ibid).
The implication of Muna’s urban plan fostered Buea’s urbanization as most civil servants, CDC workers, and other salaried
workers and businessmen were able to buy land to construct retirement homes and even houses for commercial purposes. It
was based on these allocated layouts that towns such as Wokoko (Bunduma), Mekongi (Sandpit), Great Soppo, Bokwaongo
flourished. By 1972 the rapidity in the urbanization of Buea was reflected in the presence of 20 major migrant communities,
mostly from the North West, Littoral, West, Center and the North Provinces.

Fig. 3: Map showing urbanBuea as capital of West Cameroon
Buea under the United Republic of Cameroon (1972-1982)
During the era of the United Republic of Cameroon, Buea urbanization declined because the federation was abolished. This
implies that its status as administrative capital was deflated as Yaoundé was maintained as the sole capital of the United
Republic of Cameroon. HenceBuea’s federated services no longer existed. Consequently, during the unitary state, the former
capital of the State of West Cameroon suffered from a series of decrees which hampered its urbanization drive. Firstly the
administrative status of Buea was reduced from the state capital of the former West Cameroon to the provincial headquarters
of the administrative set-up of the present Republic of Cameroon (Balgah, op.cit). Buea was given the least category of
administrative units as it was made a district in 1975. Moreover, a decree creating municipal councils in 1977 officially
classified Buea as a rural council area under an appointed municipal administration. Worse still, despite its high political and
economic profile, the headquarters of Fako Division was sent to Victoria instead ofBuea.Itwasmaintainedonlyasaprovincial
capital. This implies that Buea depended administratively on Victoria. The result was that it halted the ongoing urbanization
process in Buea as not only did the population decrease as salaried workers were transferred from Buea to Yaoundé or
Victoria, but public buildings and services were abandoned.Forthisreason,privatebusinesses experiencedstagnationor were
closed down. Buea therefore underwent official ruralization which lasted close to a decade.
Buea from 1983 till Present
Buea today has earned the title of the fastest growing town in Cameroon thanks to a number of presidential visits,thecreation
of the University of Buea in 1993, the active contribution of people in the diaspora,the surrenderoflandtotheindigenesbythe
CDC and, lastly, the recent 50th anniversary celebration of Cameroon’s reunification in February 2014.
Each of President Biya’s visits to Buea is accompanied by mile-stonedevelopments in the town’s urbanization process.Ineach
visit, he has made specific promises that have subsequently changed the face of the town. For instance, he promised the
creation of a sub-division and the construction of roads in 1986. He fulfilled this promise by raising Buea to a sub-divisionand
tarring 5kms of road that gave an impetus to the town’s urban development. These roads were in Independence Square,
Guinness Street, Bokwaongo, and the Government Residential Area (GRA). In 1991 he promised to create an Anglo-Saxon
university which he fulfilled in 1993. During his visit to Buea after the Mount Cameroon eruption in 2000, he promised18kms
of tarred roads that was realized. The Campaign Street- Bakweri Town-Bokova roads were constructed.
Urbanization in Buea reached its climax in 1993 when the University of Buea (UB) opened its gates as a fully-fledged Anglo-
Saxon institute of higher learning. The creation of UB changed the face of Buea as it has become the nodal point for Buea’s
urbanization. As an institution, the universityishostinghundredsofteachingstaff,thousandsofstudents,andhundredsof non-
academic staff. Buea has suddenly exploded, driven by the high demand for housing driven by the fact that the universitydoes
not have on-campus accommodation. This has led to competition over available space for the construction of living spaces for
off-campus housing. Since its creation, the University of Buea has become the soul of the town and an important pole of
development that has changed the social, economic, cultural and political development of Buea as a whole.

The University of Buea has therefore pushed urbanization toward the depressed Molyko, Bomaka, Wonamavio,Muea,Loingo,
Lysoka ,Bolifambaareas and eastward on the road toward Mutengene as new residentialquarters,studenthostel,hotels,cyber
cafés, banks, hospitals, bakeries, snacks and restaurants are scattered all over. Buea is now a large building site and according
to CEMENCAM statistics, Buea is the second consumer of cement in Cameroon. Being a university town, Molyko is hosting
private institutions of higher education which has increased the student population.Sociologistshaveidentified educationasa
likely determinant of migration and urbanization. Education is a form of humancapital that leadsanindividualtoexpectbetter
outcomesfrom migration as knowledge and skills gained from school may increase the ability of an individual to complete a
journey and cope in a new place (Stark and Bloom, 1985).
Increase in urbanization in Buea has led to the struggle to get back more land from the Cameroon Development Corporation
(CDC).The return of expropriated land by the CDC has also led to a new trend of urbanization. These lands were handed to the
natives as compensation for land expropriation for plantation agriculture, the clamor for more land to meet the needsofrapid
population growth as well as to decongest Buea. Since 2010, CDC has thusbeensurrenderingBakwerilandstovariousvillages.
By 2015, over 700 hectares of land had been surrendered tosomevillagesofBuea(Monono,op.cit).Thishastransformedmany
rural communities into urban areas. This is the case of Bokwai, Koke,Bolifamba,Muea andLysokaareas.Thishasincreasedthe
urban rim of the municipality with far-reaching effects on the town’s urbanization.
Sociologically, the return of land once alienated under the Germans led to the resurfacingofmany extinctBakwerivillageswith
new chiefs who have neither people nor modern history. The effect is that these new chiefs invite non-natives and provide
them with land to build in the name of development aimed at attracting people and amenities. This has led toa new formof re-
alienation of land, this time not by the whites but by the natives. According to Tacoli (1998), lands surrendered are reshaping
urban areas and leading to urban expansion or sprawl. This urban expansion is an inevitable outcome of metropolitan
population growth.
The Reunification 50th anniversary celebrations also marked a turning point in the urbanization of Buea. Ahead of the
celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the country’s reunification, the Buea Council decided on some form of urban
renewal by demolishing most of the houses without plans that had lined the main road into Buea (Ngamdamoun, 2016). This
paved the way automatically for the construction of modern houses which have helped in making the town as Cardinal Tumi
described it “one of the most beautiful towns in the country”. As if this was not enough, some 43kms of roads in the
municipality were rehabilitated.
Fig. 5: Map showingBuea urban area 2016
Following the different urbanization trends in Buea,one can
say that urbanization in Buea has beenacontinuousprocess.
Buea has become cosmopolitan and heterogeneous. This is
reflected by the presence of different ethnic groups, new
religious groups and socio-economic and socio-professional
groups. A mixture of people of different backgrounds in
terms of class, religion, and ethnic origin has developed.
Besides a middle class, one can also notice an apparent
upper class of bankers, lawyers, accountants, doctors,
lecturers, magistrates and administrators who constitutean
elite class. A lower class has also developed out of peasants,
labourers, service providers, and informal sector actors.

In conclusion, based on the trends of urbanization of Buea
above, one can say that Buea today is growing in growth
poles. According to French social scientist Francios Perroux
who coined the term, urbanization takes place first at key
nodes from which developmental impulses spread to the
periphery. He stressed the fact that these key nodes adopt
innovations, new ideas, and new processes that act as
driving forces of urbanization. These nodes, because oftheir
large size, high degree of connectivity, high rate of
innovation, and high rate of growth, dominate areas with
which they are linked. The dominant nodes effectively
control the other rates of development. To Perroux, urban
growth does not appear everywhere at once, but on
dominant nodes which he termedgrowthpolesthenspreads
through different channels (Wojnicka, 2014).
Relating this theory to urbanization in Buea,onecansaythat
being a colonial town founded bytheGermans,modernBuea
started as an administrative centre (Buea Station). This was
the first node that gave birth to other dominant nodes or
growth poles. Being a colonial station and capital of West
Cameroon and the Republic of Cameroon, there was need in
Buea for housing facilities for workers. It was against this
background that the GRA, Federal Quarters and Clerks
Quarters became important variables as far as urbanization
of Buea was concerned. Hence, prior to the 1990s, dominant
growth poles in Buea were residential areas such as GRA,
Federal Quarters, and Clerks Quarters. However, the post-
1990 ushered in a new dominant node, the Molykoneigh
bourhood, with the creation of the University of Buea. What
used to be plantation land and the forest which surrounded
Molyko have been cleared and the land used for residential,
institutional and commercial purposes. Subsequently, new
layouts also become major growth poles in Buea. Because of
these new layouts, scattered settlements areslowlymerging
(Molyko, Bomaka, Bolifamba, Wonyamavio, Muea), forming
an urban agglomeration. This has extended Buea to
surrounding villages and non-Buea villages such as
Mutengene. This expansion of the urban area is known as
urban sprawl. Social scientists have viewed urban sprawl as
an inevitableoutcomeofmetropolitan populationgrowth.As
Buea is growing, people, especiallymiddle-classworkers,are
moving from the center to the new layouts. In fact, all old
boundaries have disappeared as surrounding villages have
been absorbed into the urban mass of Buea.
An important outcome of urbanization in Buea has been its
cosmopolitanism, cultural diversity, differentiation and
social inclusiveness manifested in the proliferation of
different ethnic and tribal groups. The subsequent themes
will focus on the social and politicalorganizationofBuea and
argue that the transition of Buea from a rural to urban
settlement and the accompanying political organization has
altered human relationships and hence the politics of
identity.
The Relationship Between Urbanizationand thePolitics
of Identity.
This section looks at the relationship between urbanization
and ethnicity. Five categories analyzed; namely, the
evolution of ethnic politics in the colonial management of
diversity in representation of the council, incidence of
frictions within the council, recruitment policies, the
management of ethnicity, and Local Authorities and the
problem of land re-alienation.
The Evolution of Ethnic Politics in the Colonial
Management of Diversity: Colonial Segregation.
Modern Buea started as a German protectorate in the 18th
century. The German defeat marked a turning point in
colonial domination, segregation and discrimination of the
Buea people in their own “homeland”. To maintain their
superiority over the natives, the Germans promoted racism
by demarcating themselves from the natives. The German
station and its environs were reserved only for white
settlement. To set up boundaries between the colonial
people and the indigenes, native areas were fenced to
prevent them from having access to the station. Fanon
(1983) argued that residential segregation was a racially-
based policy. The colonial world was divided into
compartments, one section for the whites and another for
the Africans. The European section was a well-placed area
with spacious and ventilated houses, meanwhile the African
sections were poorly planned and the inhabitants wallowed
in the mire. Implicit in this segregation was European
superiority, a higher civilization which could not co-habit
with the inferior African civilization; hence the relegation of
the Africans to an inferior position (Mamdami, 1996).
Such demarcation introduced by the colonialists was to go a
long way to influence relationship between the natives and
non-natives who were termed Wajeli” (those who have
come). This was reflected by the fact that the non- indigenes
could only live out of native areas, what became known as
“strangers’ quarter”. In Buea, “strangers” were non-
indigenous to their places of residence. The creation of
stranger’s quarters was in line with the colonial policy of
segregation. Othernessinthestrangers’quarterswasfurther
intensified by the division of the settlement along ethnic
lines such as Metta quarters, Hausa quarters, Bameleki
quarters, Babute quarters along the market road in native
Buea. The creation of residential areas according to ethnic
lines was in line with the colonial vision tocreatedifferences
among the colonial subjects and made them incompatible
thus constructingethnicity. ThustheGermanmanagementof
difference wasathree-foldsegregationintowhitecolonialist,
local natives and non-native Africans. Central to the British
colonial policy was the policy of Indirect Rule, a system of
governance under which traditional rulers were given the
power to rule their subjects undertheguidanceoftheBritish
authorities (Ngoh, 1996). Central to this policy was the
establishment of Native Authorities (NA). The Indirect Rule
system was used to create demarcations through the
creation of Native Authority Areas.TheAfricansweredenied
their specific identitiesastheBritishcreated‘tribes’,brought
different ethnic groups underonetribalauthority.Eachruler
ruled over his own subjects thereby solidifying their
identification in opposition to others. Buea was thecentreof
Bakweri Native Authority, withfourcourtareas(Muea,Buea,
Bonjongo and Mutengene).
Native Authorities were headed by paramount rulers.
Yenshu and Ngwa (2001) argue that the British identified
prominent groups and elevated them to the level of
paramount chiefs. When the BritishappointedChiefEndeley
as Paramount Ruler of the Bakweri, the Buewongo family of
Upper Buea contested the paramountcy of Endeley by
arguing that it was wrong for themto beunderChiefEndeley
because they were the original Bakweri. By virtue of this
argument, the Buewongo family in their opinion reserved

the right to be chiefs of all the Bakweri. Their argument was
based in the right of first settlers.
This otherness as a result of the Britishpolicyofindirectrule
was further concretized by British administrativereformsof
dividing Southern Cameroons into the Cameroon Province
and the Bamenda Province. This division was further
widened when provinces were further carved out into
administrative divisions which were further divided into
Native Authority Areas. Buea was a Native Authority in the
Victoria Division under the Cameroon Province. These
illusory divisions and demarcations represented dynamics
which encouraged a heightened sense of awareness about
similarities and differences as well as the construction of
ethno-territorial identities (ibid).
The British desire was to bring people of similar
characteristics together into “tribes” to facilitate
administrationandminimizecost. TheintroductionofNative
Authorities marked also the early beginning of political
exclusion of non-natives from local political participation.
Inherent to it was the fear of dominationoftheinsiderby the
outsiders, thus leading to the division between “wonja” and
“wajeli”. Also, the demarcation into Provinces, Divisions and
finally Native Authorities led to ethnicconsciousnessaseach
saw itself as different from the other and was not willing to
cooperate with one another but rather defendedtheinterest
of the fellow ethnic citizens.
Council Representation: 1949- 1966
What today is considered as councils was introduced by the
British Colonial policy of indirect rule. The appellation then
was the Native Authority Council and was headed by the
chiefs. At that time, the Native Authority were strictly an
affair of indigenes; thus the appellation “native”. In other
words, the Bakweri Native Authority wasrepresentedsolely
be indigenes who represented the four Court Areas of Buea,
Muea, Lysoka, Mutengene, and Bonjongo (Monono, 2001).
However, with the presence of non-natives in the area,there
was a clamour for representation in the Native Authorities.
For this reason, some non-natives were appointed and in
some cases elected as quarter heads in the stranger quarters
according to their ethnic origin. The creation of strangers’
quarters was in line with the British policyofindirectrule.In
this context, the colonial authority sought to protect the
ethnic insider and to separate the outsider from the insider.
1949 Bakweri Clan Council
Headed by Chief GervaciusMbellaEndeley, theBakweri Clan
Council was sub-divided into four Court Areas with the
following council representatives:
Buea Court Area: D. H Mome , F. EkoMotinda, F. NjiaWojue,
L. I Nyoki, LokaLifaki Oscar Makunde, F. Ngao,JokaMfende,J.
E Motome, KuluEsongami, NjonjeEfungani, VevanjeEfimbe,
M. Youdou, W. Jongo.
Muea Court Area: Mogombe Elvis, NjakoNgale,
LyongaKombe, EtutuNake and E. Veke.
Lysoka Court Area: NganjeMalongo, Mbua Lyonge, Monika
Ekwa, NganjeNamange.
Bonjongo Court Area: Lucas Woka, W. Ngomba, J. M Likine,
M. N EfufeMosaso
Mutengene Court Area: Oscar Esombe, EsembeSume,
LifakaNgeve, S. Masung and A. N Moka.
From the above, it is clear that the compositionofthecouncil
as earlier mentioned was in the hands of the traditional
rulers under the colonial policy of Indirect Rule.In
sociological terms, it was the transfer of the cultural sphere
to the political sphere. Despite the outcry of non-natives to
be represented, they were only made quarter heads in their
respective quarters (strangers’ quarters)inaccordancewith
the British policy of protecting minority groups.
By 1958, the Bakweri Native Authority was replaced by the
Bakweri District Council headed by a chairperson and no
longer by the chiefs. As one of the most urbanized areas at
the time, Buea was transformed into a local council. The
reason behind this change was tomakelocalrepresentatives
more democratic and relevant to the needsofthepeopleand
also to reduce the participation of traditional rulers in the
running of the town. However,thisnewdevelopmentdidnot
change the status quo as the Buea Local Council was limited
only to the indigenes and did not extend to the non-natives
regarded as strangers.
The 1960s saw the birth of multiparty and nationalistic
activities in Southern Cameroons that subsequently led to
the granting of a quasi-regional status prior to the final
granting of independence. With the coming of J. N. Foncha to
power and hisKameroonNationalDemocraticParty(KNDP),
his first political task was the enactment of a new reform
increasing non-indigene representation to an equal footing
with that of the indigenes. Thanks to Foncha’s Government
policy, for the first time in the history of Buea Council, non-
indigenes started participating actively in the running ofthe
affairs of the town in which they too were part. Despite the
competition between indigenes and non-indigenes, the
position of chairman and other executive positions were
reserved for the indigenes.
1962 – 1966 Bakweri District Council
Chairperson: Samuel MokaLifafaEndeley
Councilors : Samuel Singe, Francis Esoke, Ferdinand
Esembe, NjieIsose, Johnson Ekike, ApoloMobea, Mbua
Mokombe, Molombe J. N, S. E Longonje, Wokama, Otto
Messena, Mongombe, Andrea N. Teke, Molombe H. L,
Thompson Kombe, Wole, Andreas Ngando, Musinga Smith
Molonge, Siegfried Eliva, and Ikoma.
Non-Natives: Gabriel Njimuni, Benjamin Tapong, Sam G.
Atabong, Thomas Enokoh, N.S Anyah, Joshua Waah,
LambeKonsike, Jacob Nguhuh, Edward Noah, Isaiah Njah,
Jonas Akuo, John Ebuaw, Asoh, ThomasAli,andNguhCanteh.
1968 Bakweri Council
Chairman: GervaciusMbellaEndeley
Councilors: Paul M Njie, Simon N. Fende,PhillipEwusi,Rose
Eko, David Esoa, Lucas P. Namme, Adolf Esembe, Samuel
Ngale, Africa Musenga, Nicodemus Singe, Isaac Messoso,
Thomas Lisinge, Jacob Effoe, Augustine Etema, Paul Messe,
Martin Mbonde, , John Elali, and Shadrack Muyemge,
Non-natives: George MbanyaminFongang, Simon Fokum,
Williams Makia Isaac N. Robert Mbole,

Urbanization and the Politics of Identity in Buea A Sociological Perspective

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